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Ruin or Separation from Anti-Christ. 

,/ / L/ £" / , 

/ A 

SERMON 

PREACHED AT BYFIELD, 
APRIL 7, 1808, 

ON THE ANNUAL FAST * 

IN THE 

COMMONWEALTH of MASSACHUSETTS. 



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" Who gave commission to these monsters force, 

" To hold in chains the humble universe ? 

" The direful signs, which mark the day of doom, 

" Will scarcely scatter such portentous gloom. 

" When rock'd the ground, convuls'd each roaring flood, 

« The stars shall fall, the sun be turn'd to blood." 



By ELIJAH PARISH, d. d. 

MINISTER OF BTFJELD. 



»Wft*V\^>i>?*VSV* 



KEWBURYPORT....£. W. Gf ;r. B. ALLEN, PRINTERS. 
APRIL 1808. 

Copyright secured.*:' 



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Revelation, 18, 4. 

And I heard another voice from heaven sayings 
Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par- 
takers of her sins, and that ye receive not of 
her plagues, 

A.S a kind parent warns his children of 
approaching danger ; so God warns his people 
to secure themselves from divine judgments. 
As a faithful centinel descries danger, and a- 
larms the camp ; so God calls upon the armies 
of his people to be prepared for the day of sor- 
row. Dangers are marked with precision ; the 
path of duty is enlightened with the brightest 
sun-beams of heaven. The errors and delus- 
ions of the world are therefore only proofs, that 
the heart is perverse, that the fountain of action 
is corrupted. If men are blind, it is merely be- 
cause they will not see. If they proceed in a 
wrong course, it is merely because they are a- 
verse from good. The commands and threat- 
nings of God's word proceed on the ground that 
men have sufficient light and knowledge. In 
the text therefore God says, " Come out of her, 
my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, 
and that ye receive not of her plagues." A false 
church, a community of hypocrites, a class of 
sinners, are supposed to be so malignant, so con- 



istenee of heavenly Sovereign, what you adore 
by day will be your destruction by- night." 

By not disapproving this act of government,this 
blasphemy is the blasphemy of the nation, and of 
all, who unite with them. This same power is in 
the habit of "great words." They declare,"Death 
is an eternal sleep." There is the essence of 
practical blasphemy. The same Power "changes 
times and laws ;" they change the sabbath ; in- 
stead of a sabbath of holy pg^Sfee one day in 
seven ; they establish a gay festival one day in 
ten. They " change laws." Without fleets or 
seamen, with a single "imperial decree," they 
blockade the harbors of the commercial world. 
The students of a public school are introduced 
to the Legislature. In his address one of the 
pupils says, J' I and my companions detest a God." 
The nation received this with applause. Does 
not this Power " speak great words against the 
Most High ?" 

St. Paul draws this Power in more vivid and 
distinct colors. "In the last days perilous times 
shall come ; for men shall be lovers of their own- 
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, 
without natural affection, truce-breakers, false 
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those 
who are good, traitors, heady, high minded, hav- 
ing a form of godliness, but denying the pow- 
er."* " Boasters" they are. Did ever a nation 
show such a "proud," boastful, overbearing spir- 
it toward other nations ? Their blasphemies 
need not be mentioned again. They are "with- 
out natural affection."! It has been a favorite 
object of organized societies and volumes have 

* 2 Tim. s. t See Payson's Modern Anti-Christ. 



been written, to prove that man is a cosmopolite,. 
a citizen of the world, that he has no appropriate 
duties as a subject, a citizen, or the father of a 
family. They are " Truce-breakers." The rul- 
ing power of Europe observes treaties no further 
than interest, convenience, and ambition, require. 
At the present moment our country is suffering, 
our prosperity is sinking, and our ships are blaz- 
ing in violation of solemn treaties. " False ac- 
cusers" they cffs. Of their own best people, 
millions have been beheaded, and drowned, and 
butchered by false accusations.* The history 
of the world does not present a more astonish- 
ing example of falshood, of blood, and barbarism^ 
St.Paul declares them " incontinent" or unchaste. 
Their passing history declares the same, that 
they have virtually abrogated the ordinance of 
marriage by the facility of divorces. How liter- 
ally, how precisely they answer the description 
of Anti-Chtist you may learn, if I can persuade 
myself to recite a decree of the nation in 1794, 
" It is there declared that there is nothing crim- 
inal in the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes." 
Forgive me this freedom. It is of infinite im- 
portance that you know the enemy from whom 
you must separate. We need no additional facts 
to illustrate the fierceness of this power. "Fierce" 
she is "as ten. furies and terrible as hell." Her 
fury is consuming the nations of Europe. By 
St. Paul they are called " Traitors." This sin- 
gle word remarkably distinguishes this power. 
The reigning power was built on the ruins of 
the consular government ; the consular govern- 
ment was built on the ruins of the republic ; the 
* See Residence in France. Kett, Clergy's Journal, &c. 



Republic rose from the ashes of the monarchy* 
Insurrection and rebellion after rebellion ; per- 
jury after perjury, and treason after treason, prq- 
duced the present stupendous power of the em- 
pire. Surely no power was ever more justly 
branded with the name of "Traitor." The 
prophet of Tarsus distinguishes this empire by 
its " having the form of godliness, but denying 
the power.'" The mighty Colossus, which tram- 
ples on the powers of the European continent, 
has established the false religion of Rome, as a 
political engine, having no more reverence for 
this religion, than for the delusions of Mahom- 
et, or the superstition of paganism. When in a 
Mahometan country, he declares himself a be- 
liever in Mahomet, and boasts that he has de- 
stroyed the religion of Christ in Europe. Since 
the world begun there never has been a more 
remarkable, more notorious instance of a peo- 
ple, having the form of godliness and denying 
the power. 

By this time no reflecting mind can be at a 
loss, who those are from whom we are comman- 
ded " to come out." Still more witnesses press 
to be heard. From the cavern of Patmos, St. 
John* declares, this " Beast causeth all, both 
small and great, rich and poor, bond and free, 
to receive a mark," or token of their respect for 
him ; in a sovereign manner he considers them 
on his side, as his servants.f He " decrees" 
that " no man might buy or sell, save he that 
had the mark," or token of subjection to him. 
Observe, he " caused ;" a very general word. 

* Chap. 13. f See a late communication from our Minifter 
at the Court of France. 



He has not fleets to compel ; but partly by force, 
partly by imperial decrees, and partly by " dip- 
lomatic skill," he " causes" the traffic of the na- 
tions to suffer. The hum of business is silent ; 
commercial fleets no longer whiten every sea. 
Individual cities have, before, lost their com- 
merce ; the commerce of a nation has been for 
a short time suspended ; the Pope has some- 
times controled the commerce of the church ; 
but this is the era in which we hear a voice for- 
bidding " all men," excepting the vassals of the 
" Beast" " to buy or sell."* As it was with 
the city of Tyre, so it is now with all our com- 
mercial cities. "And all that handle the oar, the 
mariners and the pilots of the sea, shall come 
down from their ships ; they shall stand upon 
the land, and shall cause their voice to be heard 
against thee, and shall cry bitterly ; and cast 
dust upon their heads, and wallow themselves 
in ashes." Every day and hour make the pic- 
ture plainer and plainer. Do not the friends of 
this power daily boast that no King nor Emper- 
or can resist his force, that he can subdue the 
frozen Russians, and triumph in the spicy groves 
of India. So Revelation says, "Power was 
given the beast over all kindreds, and tongues, 
and nations." Where his arms cannot reach, 
the influence of his agents prevails from the Bal- 
tic to the Archipelago, from Constantinople to 
Washington. 

II. What is implied in " coming out" from 
this tremendous power. 

* Our veflels are now detained in France, that they may afcertain 
whether we will unite with her, and receive the mark of the beaft. 
Then it is intimated we may " buy and fell." See communications 
from our minifter in France. 

B 



10 



1. We must come out from them in heart and 
spirit. The words of the address are worthy 
of notice. "Come out, my people ;" my people 
of every country, nation and language ; in eve- 
ry city, village, and family of the world. As 
this Anti-Christian power first rose out of the 
church, and is in itself an apostate church, her 
poison may be expected wherever God has a 
people ; wherever there is a wreck, or remnant, 
or name of a church ; because where true be- 
lievers are, where the wheat is, there is the chaff 
and the tares. This Hydra walks in darkness, 
and like pestilence and death is every where.. 
We may, possibly, find the serpents in our most 
sacred connexions, in the church, in our fami- 
lies. The husband of a pious wife ; the child 
of a pious parent, may be a limb of the " beast." 
u Come out from them, my people, in all the vast 
dominions of this mighty usurpation, saith the 
Lord, as far as may be consistent with other 
positive and sacred obligations. Families need 
not separate, nor subjects leave their country 
nor government ; yet they may in heart and spir- 
it come out from them ; they may abhor their 
principles, detest their designs, and as far as pos- 
sible, counteract their fatal measures. 

2. We must separate from them by incessant- 
ly praying against their malignant influence. 
A large portion of the civilized world is divided 
into two great sections. Whatever may be the 
character of each individual in either section, 
the general tendency of one is to support, of the 
other to des + roy the cause of Jesus Christ. It 
is our duty to pray that these may be disappoint- 
ed in their designs against the cause of the Re- 



II 



deemer ; it is our duty to pray like the Psalmist, 
'" Grant not the desire of these wicked men." 
Prayer is a duty, tho' the friends of Anti-Christ 
point the finger of scorn. In answer to prayer, 
seas have divided their billows, rivers stop- 
ped in their course ; the sun and moon stood 
still ; how much more will God hear us, when 
we pray against bold blasphemers. 

3. Of course, in no instance can we " bid 
them God speed,' 1 or rejoice in their success. 

If in the most secret manner we rejoice at their 
success ; if we breathe a congratulation in i ux 
hearts ; we then approve their character ; we par- 
take in their sins ; we must receive their plague?, * 
To rejoice in iniquity is ourselves to be guilty. 

4. To come out from this power, we must • e- 
sist his influence by all lawful means. 

Here opens a wide field, which cannoi i 
thoroughly explored. Personal circumstc ;.. ici 
the state of society, the events of the moment, 
must direct every man to his post, and the 
he is to perform. Arguments, exhortations, pe- 
titions, and entreaties ; a most firm use of our 
privilege of suffrage ; all may be powerful 
means to repel the force, and bridle the ferocity 
of the beast with whom we contend. For par- 
ents to instruct their children in sound princi- 
ples ; for the rich to encourage the poor, who 
are honest, in preference of those who are the 
base slaves of slaves ; for ministers to instruct 
their people concerning the real state of the 
church and the world, may powerfully resist 
this gangrene of moral death. The most wan- 
ton government is to be resisted only in a law- 
ful manner. Nero and Napoleon, kings and 



12 



presidents, while on the throne, must be obeyed. 
We must obey them for the Lord's sake. We 
honor their office, tho' we recoil from their char- 
acters ; we obey their laws, tho' we resist their 
dangerous influence. And I heard another voice 
from heaven, saying, " Come out from among 
them, my people, that ye partake not in her sins, 
and receive not her plagues." 

III. What plagues or judgments will those 
endure, who do not separate from this Anti- 
Christian power ? 

1. They shall imbibe her spirit, assume her 
character. They shall receive her plagues ; the 
'same, which she endures herself. This is the 
plague of all plagues. Rather let famine, war 
and pestilence, arrest us, than the malignant, 
contagious spirit of Anti-Christ. What this spir^ 
i : . : > you have in part just heard, and may better 
learn from a thousand sources daily opening 
before you. 

Infidelity is a prominent feature of the hag- 
gard countenance we are examining. The rul- 
ing power of Europe has long been determined 
to pull up religion by the roots, to cast this tree 
cf Paradise into the fire of their vengeance. 
They have determined to destroy the means of 
its existence. Not a pastor shall be allowed to 
feed the sheep or the lambs of Christ's flock. 
In proof of this we inform you from French pa- 
pers, which for once we believe are correct : 
That in the time when more than one hundred 
ministers of religion u*£P died, only four had 
been ordained to supply their places. It ap- 
pears also that in a country where there were 
five thousand vacancies, not fifty candidates 



13 



vere known to supply them. The salaries al- 
owed are denominated starving jokes, and sup- 
posed to be direeted by the government to de- 
itroy Christianity by destroying her ministers, 
rhey are compelled to engage in other callings 
o support themselves. So penurious is their 
•eward ; so abject, so miserable, their situation. 
Fhe people are so poisoned with infidelity ; they 
ire so hardened by the spirit of Anti-Christ, 
hat they refuse to pay the smallest tax to sup- 
port a seminary for clerical education. So few 
ire the churches, supplied with pastors, that 
hose who are hungry for the bread of life, and 
bursting for the waters of salvation, are obliged 
o travel forty, fifty and sixty miles to find a place 
vhere a minister officiates. Two million Prot- 
estants in France are" in this deplorable situation, 
ilmost twice as many as all the inhabitants of 
New-England. 

But our object is in view. The command is, 
' Come out of her, my people, that ye receive 
tot of her plagues." One of the plagues of these 
^elf-destroyers is to be like this power to whom 
;hey adhere. In order to ascertain what this is, 
kve have been so particular. She is rampired 
*ound with infidelity, and daring impiety. She 
despises the ordinances, the churches, the chris- 
tian ministry. Her language is, u where is the 
promise of his coming ?" " The doctrines of 
ministers and christians are idle dreams." 

Sometimes God gives up the wicked to com- 
mit sin with all greediness, as a part of their 
punishment for other sins ; he withdraws his 
Holy Spirit, and they believe a lie, that they 
may be damned. So those, who will not come 



14 

out from Anti-Christ, are left to become like An- 
ti-Christ. 

We drop speculating on the subject, and ap- 
peal to facts, to facts of which you are all the 
best judges. Is it then, or is it not, a solemn 
fact, as far as mortals can discern, or as far as 
your acquaintance extends, that those who do 
not come cut from this infidel power, do possess 
a great degree of her spirit ? Observe the most 
respectable of this description. You are pleas- 
ed with their address ; you respect their talents ; 
you honor their profound science ; but you wish- 
fully and anxiously inquire for somewhat that 
will mark a character opposite to Anti-Christ. 
Again you ask, you inquire, you look ; but do 
you ever see them shudder at the enormities 
and horrors of French infidelity ? Do you ever 
hear them lament the irreligion, the impiety, the 
barbarism,the oppressions and slaughters of blas- 
phemous Anti-Christ ? Do they not make a mul- 
titude of excuses and apologies ; do they not 
•fill their mouth with arguments to justify her ? 
Do they not harmonize with Anti-Christ ? Who 
are they, that are little hurt, and readily connive 
at the most open contempt of divine things, at 
ridicule cast on the doctrine of the deluge, the 
volume of revelation itself, and the gospel min- 
istry ? Need we name them ? Who are they, who 
in general display in a great degree the spirit of 
Anti-Christ himself ? " Do ye not know them 
by these tokens ?" They have begun to receive 
the plagues mentioned in the text. Let the de- 
vout spirit exclaim, "Oh my soul, come not thou 
into their secret ■; mine honor, be not thou join- 
ed with them." 



15 

2. Another plague of Anti-Christ is to endure 
the greatest poii deal oppression and. servitude. 

The people of that devoted country, to which 
we have constant reference, are broken by 
the hand of oppression ; they are crushed 
by the ire a foot of a tyrant. Even liberty of 
speech is denied ; a large proportion of the in- 
habitants are spies, in the pay of government, to 
catch the words of their neighbors, their com- 
panions, their friends. No man dares to make 
remarks on the measures of government, lest a 
spy should complain, and his life pay for his 
words. A paper in this state has lately intima- 
ted, that it may soon be " political suicide" to 
animadvert on the conduct of the administration ; 
the expression of opinion has been represented 
as treason. Tho' we find it. difficult to conceive 
that such arrogance exists ; yet it is too proba- 
ble we may soon feel the sword of such a law 
in our own vitals. Then those persons, so zea- 
lous now to pull these calamities on our heads, 
will be equal sufferers ; then will they execrate 
their union with anti-christian darkness ; then 
will they not be allowed the privilege of -the E- 
gyptians to raise a great cry, when there is one 
dead in every house. _ 

The contributions levied, die taxes imposed 
on the " allies" of France, exceed description, 
and baffle calculation. A late traveller men- 
tions, that in Lombardy the inhabitants pay one 
half their annual income to the French govern- 
ment. Would the time permit, we might travel 
all over Europe, and find occasion for similar re- 
marks. Prussia is suffering inexpressible dis- 
tress ; the people are fainting with their burdens, 



16 



and mad with despair. In Germany, war, dis- 
ease and famine, have overwhelmed the inhabit- 
ants. In the scarcity of bread, they have been 
compelled to feed on grass.* So deplorable is 
their situation, that great sums have been raised 
in England for their relief. Genoa, saith the 
Marquis Salvo, is stripped of its property, driv- 
en to the last state of wretchedness, her com- 
merce completely annihilated. From Hanover 
and other parts of Germany, the inhabitants are 
flying into Austria, and are even there refused 
the protection of the government. Does not 
this indicate the lowest state of misery ! Portu- 
gal has paid tribute till she could pay no lon- 
ger. When her circulating medium was ex- 
hausted, she plundered her own churches of 
their plate and ornaments to appease the insa- 
tiable tyrant.f Nor would this suffice ; his ar- 
mies now occupy the country, live upon the in- 
habitants ; famine and misery follow. The king 
and royal family have fled to America. Swit- 
zerland is compared to the skin of a beast, offer- 
ed in sacrifice. She has been robbed, and plun- 
dered, and ruined, by the terrible republic. Like 
the skin of a victim deprived of its body and its 
life, its bones and marrow, they are trodden un- 
der the feet of their masters. Her racks, dema- 
gogues and ruins, are all that remain. Those 
plagues, like an overwhelming deluge, are rush- 
ing on all nations, who do not come out from 
this mighty power. 

3. Everlasting destruction is the portion of 
Anti-Christ, and of all who do not separate from 
him. ?vcAy 

* See Panoplift, Vol. l . f Letter from Lisbon. 



17 



Rev. 14 chap. And the third angel follow- 
ed, saying, with a loud voice, " If any man wor- 
ship the beast and his image, and receive his 
mark," become his friend or agent, " the same 
shall drink the wine of the wrath of God, which 
is poured forth without mixture into the cup of 
his indignation, and he shall be tormented with 
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy 
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, and the 
smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and 
ever, and they have no rest day nor night, who 
worship the beast or his image," or are friendly 
to this Infidel power, " or receiveth the mark of 
his name," or becometh subject to his influence. 

Chap. 19. After these things I heard another 
voice of much people in heaven saying, " Alle- 
luia," and again they said, " Alleluia," and her 
smoke rose up forever and ever, and the four 
and twenty Elders worshipped God, saying, 
" Amen ; Alleluia." 

IMPRO FEME NT. 

One interesting reflection forces itself upon 
our attention, it has doubtless been made by ev- 
ery hearer, this Commonwealth and the country 
must detach themselves from Anti-Christ or be 
destroyed. 

Has not this Commonwealth and the United 
States, once and again elected those Legislators 
whom they intended should be friendly, and par- 
tial to the interests of Anti-Christ ? Those, who 
unite and coalesce with her, will inevitably fall ; 
those, who daringly resist her, will ride out the 



IS 



storm, which now shakes the foundations of the 
world. If Sweden and Great-Britain make peace, 
and form an alliance with their foe, that moment, 
are they like Sampson in the lap of the harlot, 
exposed to have their locks shorn, their eyes 
torn out, to lose their liberty and their existence. 

That these opinions will be treated with con- 
tempi and scorn, it may be expected ; the chil- 
dren of Lot ridiculed his story of fire from hea- 
ven: doubtless the Anti-deiuvians derided Noah 
for his ship, his navigation, and his tale of a un- 
iversal deluge. One great infelicity of ridicule 
and contempt is, they have never been found a 
secure defence against the judgments of God. 
With ail their snort Sodom was burned : the 
world was drowned. Had I a voice to be heard, 
fro ic to Georgia, gladly would I meet the 

torrent of sarcasms, which, like the foam of Ni- 

::v, might burst forth, for the privilege of com- 
menting on. the text, and most affectionately 
v. arning the. people. It is,- it is a day of darkness 
and rebuke. Never was there a louder call for 
a d2.y of humiliation and prayer. Never was a 
ater deliverance to be prayed for, deliverance 
from the plagues of Anti-Christ. 

The sparks, which will inevitably consume us 
unless we repent are already kindled. The 
clouds, charged with the thunders of desolation, 
are spreading their dark shadows over the land. 
That oppression, that infidelity, that impiety, 
which are plagues of Anti-Christ, are already 
visible, and good men tremble. A deplorable 
evil it is to belong to a community, devoted to 
ruin ; yet God sometimes delivers those, not 



19 



guilty of procuring the judgments ; but he is un- 
der no obligation to do this. The personal sins 
of the best men would justify Providence in 
punishing them with his enemies. Asa nation 
we sin, and as a nation we may be destroyed. 
Yet may we pray for deliverance in the day of 
wrath- When Jerusalem was sacked by Titus, 
the christians, being warned by Christ, fled from 
the city, and- escaped the undescribable horrors 
of the siege. When Home was taken by Alaric 
the Goth, Honorius, and other christians, were 
secure in Ravenna. 

Leaving it to every one to make a more for- 
mal application for himself, we beg your patience 
a moment, while we sincerely and tenderly en- 
treat you, not to consider this a party discourse, 
or an effusion of the moment. No. These 
hasty hints are well founded ; they are the words 
of truth and soberness. They are supported by 
existing events, as well as the word of God. A 
man must be blind to the history of recent ev- 
ents, as well as dead to christian faith to contro- 
vert these opinions. The Preacher begs you to 
consider this as a plain, practical discourse ; the 
duties, as important as can be recommended. 
Those, who trifle with these warnings, he views 
in a situation more alarming than the murderer. 
The murderer finds no one to justify him ; he 
hears a thousand reproofs, and is alarmed ; but 
in your friendship to Anti-Christ, more than half 
the nation justify the deed of impiety, hand joins 
in hand, and a covenant with hell is confirmed. 
But do remember, that whatever else you doubt, 
or deny, the text is the word of God; the text re- 



20 



fers to Anti-Christ ; not to know, who is Anti- 
Christ, must argue gross ignorance of the bible, 
and the world. Be so kind, so merciful to your- 
selves, as to remember, the text implies that, our 
ruin or salvation depends on our conduct to- 
wards this Inlidel power, which is covering the 
world with darkness. Our prosperity and our 
destruction are before us. The choice is ours. 
If you believe the word of God ; if you only at- 
tend to passing events, it will be easy to decide 
on this important subject. 

Only look at the nations of Europe. Which 
of them have suffered most ; which of them have 
suffered least by that Power, who makes the earth 
drunk with blood ? It is a truth recorded in eve- 
ry page of passing events, that those nations have 
suffered most, who have been most friendly to 
this Anti-Christian Power, who have lent their 
assistance, and courted her favor. It is a glori- 
ous truth that those have -suffered the least, who 
have unfurled the banner of defiance, and waged 
incessant war with Anti-Christ, and all his mer- 
cenary legions. 

Spain has been the friend and ally of this gi- 
gantic power, supported her measures, and been 
the instrument of her iniquities, yet now she sees 
those fortresses, which are the keys of the coun- 
try, which are of essential importance to the 
well-being of the State, resigned to the legions 
of France. The king himself is little better than 
a cypher or royal captive in his own palace. 
The United Provinces, Switzerland, Portugal, 
some States of Germany, have distinguished 
themselves as the friends of this mighty Foe to 



21 



Jesus Christ ; they have presented most flatter- 
ing addresses ; they have received his soldiers as 
brethren, and the valiant friends of liberty. What 
have been the consequences ? These countries 
have been overrun with desolating armies ; they 
have been plundered and murdered ; their har- 
vests have vanished from their fields ; their s-ck 
have been torn from their beds, their houses 
have been barracks for French soldiers ; their 
sons and husbands have been dragged into the 
armies of the Conqueror, to bleed and die tihpiti- 
ed and unknown ; their daughters and wives have 
been polluted by the legions of Anti-Christ ; their 
governments are dissolved, and their names are 
blotted from the catalogue of Nations. 

On the other hand, " the mother country," the 
blest land of our fathers sepulchres, Great-Bri- 
tain, has nobly dared to wage a just war with 
this blasphemous Power. What have been the 
consequences ?. Her fields have never been rob- 
bed or defiled by the troops of Napolean ; they 
have never spread desolation along the fair coast 
of England ; they have never profaned her 
churches, nor dragged her sons into their bloody 
armies ; the navies of England ride triumphant 
in every sea ; they chastise her enemies ; they 
waft to her ports the comforts and luxuries of 
every clime. Such is the fruit " of coming out" 
from Anti-Christ ; while we and other nations, 
like moles and bats, crawl at the feet of the Con- 
queror ; like serpents eat the dust of his feet, or 
are chained to his car to swell the splendor of 
his triumphs. Our incalculable sacrifices ; our 
loss of ships, our tribute, our suspension of com- 



22 



merce, are entirely the fruit of our friendship to 
Anti-Christ. The present state of the world, is 
a lucid comment on our text. Those, who deny 
our text, or our construction of it, ought to be 
ignorant of passing events in Europe and Amer- 
ica, to claim any particle of consistency or integ- 
rity. Those, who have not come out from this 
Power have partaken in her sins, and are now, 
now actually receiving her plagues. Our coun- 
try has begun to sip the deadly draught ; others 
have drunk the very dregs. Be warned then, 
oh my friends, my beloved people. As the 
warnings of Jonah shook the walls of Nineveh, 
so should the voice in the text awaken your fears. 
An enemy is at hand ; he is not a trifling enemy. 
He is a strong man armed, and as artful, as he 
is strong. s He deceives whom he cannot subdue. 
His friends are as bold as guilt and despair can 
make them. They have no hope, but in the 
success of this arch enemy of Jesus Christ. 
Their union seems indissoluble ; they are join- 
ed by bands of iron. As the Egyptians unitedly 
pursued their revenge of Israel into the abyss 
of the sea : so these men, although their chariot 
wheels drag heavily, seem resolved to brave all 
the dangers and terrors before them. As in a 
storm, when all hope is lost, sailors seize the 
flowing bowl, that in drunkenness they may 
deaden the horror of going down together ; so 
this unhappy fraternity inflame themselves with 
party spirit, that they may laugh at destruc- 
tion, and sport with the awful doom, bursting 
on themselves and their country. As " devil 
with devil damned firm concord holds" ; so 



these maintain a horrid combination of spirits., 
and bid defiance to conviction. 

Beloved, though we thus speak, we hope 
better things of you ; still it may be wise to 
examine yourselves ; we beseech you to exam- 
ine your hearts to the bottom ; see if there be 
no seeds of this contagious infidelity ; no spark 
of this unhallowed fire, smothered in any cor- 
ner of your hearts. Merely joining with that 
section of the public whose object it is to sup- 
port religion, will not, cannot save you. Personal 
virtues you must possess* Though none of you, 
as far as we know, are so lost to religious im- 
pressions, as to act in concert with the friends 
of Anti-Christ ; yet are you never secretly pleas- 
ed with their dreadful spirit and character ? 
Do you never secretly rejoice to see them car- 
ry havoc into the vineyard of Christ, afflict 
his servants, and trample on the fruits of their 
labors ? 

If you value your own peace and safety here ; 
if you would not pull down the judgments oi 
God on your families, your neighbors, and your 
country ; if you would not with all the friends 
of Anti-Christ sink into that lake, which burnetii 
forever and ever ; then fly from this unholy en- 
emy. What communion hath light with dark- 
ness ; what concord hath Christ with Belial ? 
"And I heard another voice from heaven say- 
ing, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not 
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not oi 
her plagues." AMEN. 



24 



NOTES FOR PAGE 7. 

The executions in Paris in one month, July 1794, were 38 minis- 
ters, 305 nobles, 530 of the people, total 929. Playfair. 

A child of ten years of age had been corrected by its mother. He 
ran to the reyolutionary tribunal, and accused her of being still at- 
tached to the catholic religion. The accusation was received ; the 
boy rewarded, and the mother executed in a few hours. 

Hi/lory of the French Clergy. 

Goullin beat his own father with a stick, when the old man was 
en his death bed; the father died in two hours. ibid. 

The obedience of the child to the father was called a remnant ot 
feudal slavery. 

NOTES FOR PAGE 12. 

Camus and Condorcet, leaders in the national legislature, openly 
taught atheism ; and another of them, Ceruti, said with his last 
breAth, " Th* only regret, which I have in quitting the world, is that 
I leave a religion on the earth." Such would be « the blasphemy ot 
expiring demons. c , . u Barrucl. 

Sept. s. Philiope came to the Jacobin club, of which he was a 
member with a box in his hand ; he made an harangue,declanng those 
worthy of death that preferred the ties of blood to those or patriot- 
ism, and to prove his sincerity, opened the box and^ held up the 
heads of his father and mother, "svbicb I ba<ve cut off, said he, be- 
cause they refused to hear mass from an apostate priest. Jacobins ot 
late have vcleped themselves republicans, liin. of the French Clergy. 

When 1 was in France I faw fufficient realbn to believe, that harcl- 
lv any perfon of eminence, was a believer in Chnft.anity ; and no 
p'erfon will fuppofe there has been any change in tavor of Chnl- 
tianity. A . ^ Pnejily. 

Gobet, the bishop of Paris with his grand vicars, and tnree rev- 
olutionary priefts in the hall of the Legislators, abdicated Chriftian- 
ity in form ; they begged pardon of the nation for duping them 
into a belief of the divinity of an Impoftor, and declared they ac- 
knowledged no Deity, but Reafon. harruel. 

NOTES FOR PAGE 1C 

More than £l 7,779 sterling, have been contributed in England for 
the fufferera in Germany, beside various sums in Scotland. _ 

Religious Monitor. 

Having been obliged to supply Trench armies with provision and 
clothing, cities and villages being erouded, last summer there was 
fuch a scarcity in several parts of Saxony, Silesia, Bohemia, Auftria, 
and Cher provinces, that many baked bran tor bread, and used 
grafs for vegetables. Some people went even to those places where 
dead horses were thrown, and fed upon their carcases. Such is tlie 
misery of French amity. The breath of the monfter is fatal ; her con- 
tagion is death. See Panaphjt, I '<oI. I. 

Errata. 
Page 6, line 10 from top, for promise read praise— p. 12, 1.4 from 
bottom, for has read have p. 13, 1. 2 from top, for jokes read sti- 
pends p. 16, 1. 7 from bottom, for racks read rocks. 

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